Editor's note: As NASCAR takes its midseason break and gears up for the second half of the 2014 season, Sporting News will take a look at some of the biggest trends and developments so far this season.

NASCAR made two big blunders during the first half that could have had a big impact on the season and one race in particular.

It was a somewhat quick change in plans by NASCAR but it also was in some ways a week too late. Everyone could see at Phoenix on Feb. 28 that it was a safety issue with cars creeping along at a quarter of the pace of those running qualifying laps. There was no reason to see it again at Las Vegas before making the change.

NASCAR made the change, thankfully before Bristol, and there hasn’t been much of an issue at all with crewmen on pit road attaching cool-down units to their cars.

Bristol

With the laps at Bristol winding down and rain coming, NASCAR just needed to get to the finish of the 500-lap race. But with less than two laps remaining, the caution lights came on.

The only problem was that no one had turned them on. Well, not on purpose. A switch used to control the lights from the flagstand was never deactivated and was accidentally tripped by a NASCAR official.

Before the race could run two final laps under green, the rain came. The race was official, meaning that Carl Edwards, who likely would have won if it had remained green, was the winner anyway.

It was an embarrassing moment, however, for NASCAR and Bristol.

Verdict: Bristol

While it really didn’t impact the finish, it could have. And this blunder was totally preventable. NASCAR should always be working with the tracks to ensure that all non-necessary switches are not in operation during the race.